Description

The Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America harvests the fruits of 25 years of scholarship on the history and current state of women’s religious experience in North America. The result of a five-year project led by Rosemary Skinner Keller and Rosemary Radford Ruether and funded by the Lilly Endowment and the Henry Luce Foundation, the encyclopedia marshals the talents of more than 150 scholars to produce the most comprehensive and up-to-date description and analysis of women and religion in North America. The encyclopedia is interreligious, interracial, and multicultural and is aimed at a broad general audience.

Instead of hundreds of short entries, this encyclopedia features more than 145 longer essays that enable major themes to be developed more fully. The articles focus on institutions, movements, and ideas. The authors weave biographical sketches into their articles to give them a more personal and humanizing quality, and to recognize the women responsible for the gains made over the centuries. The essays demonstrate that neither the story of women nor the story of religion in North America can be accurately told unless the religious experience of women is integrated into the center of women’s and religious history.

These well-illustrated volumes will be an essential reference for all of those interested in the role of women in North America’s vibrant and complex religious life.

Author Bio

Rosemary Skinner Keller is Professor Emeritus of Church History at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Rosemary Radford Ruether is the Carpenter Professor of Feminist Theology at the Graduate Theological Union of the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

Reviews

". . . an excellent reference . . . ." —Feminist Collections

". . . while this resource does a commendable job of covering women's history in relation to specific religious traditions and movements, it goes a step beyond by also attending to issues of how women's religious commitments and affiliations have affected the larger society and culture of North America. . . . Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through faculty/researchers." —Choice

". . . a work that . . . truly encompass[es] the history of women and religion. . . . important piece of scholarship." —American Reference Books Annual 2007

". . . this three-volume work has much to offer students, scholars, and the general public who wish to explore the diversity and variety of women's experiences within their religious traditions." —American Catholic Studies , Spring 2009